Southeast Asia has a high prevalence of mental health problems and a low desire to seek professional help. Low treatment rates in LMICs are also reflected in the lack of readily available treatments geared toward students. In developing countries such as Thailand, academic advisors in higher education play another extra role in providing appropriate mental health counseling beyond teaching, researching, and delivering academic advising to their students. This quasi-experimental research aimed to study counseling’s competency of academic advisors in higher education and develop counseling’s competency of academic advisors in higher education. The sample groups used in this study were academic advisors who worked in a Thai university. There were two data collection stages. In stage 1, 250 samples were selected using a multi-stage random sampling technique for examining counseling competency. In stage 2, 60 samples used in the first stage having counseling’s competency score rating from low to moderate were equally divided into two groups (control and intervention). The results in the first stage showed that the total mean score of counseling competency was moderate. In the second stage, the hypothesis-tested result also showed significant differences in counseling competency outcomes in the intervention and control groups. These findings highlight intervention; the Brief Counseling Competency Training Program (BCCTP) could be helpful for reskilling and upskilling academic advisors’ counseling competency, especially attitude dimension, and implicate set friendly services, a sustainable academic advisor network to support and strengthen these competencies.

Hope and loneliness are significant psychosocial factors that greatly influence the quality of life (QoL) among older adults. However, few studies have examined these constructs simultaneously in rural aging populations in Southeast Asia. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between hope, loneliness, and QoL among community-dwelling older adults in northeastern Thailand. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 250 participants aged 60 years and older, recruited through convenience sampling. Descriptive statistics summarized participant characteristics, while hierarchical regression identified QoL predictors. The participants (mean age = 70.41 years; 52.8% female) reported a high level of hope (M = 33.35), a moderate level of loneliness (M = 8.81), and a good level of QoL (M = 99.13). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that age, occupation, monthly income, income source, education, health insurance, comorbidities, hope, and loneliness were significant predictors of QoL. Together, these factors accounted for 55.1% of the variance in QoL. Both hope and loneliness have a significant impact on QoL in older adults. Interventions designed to reduce loneliness and foster hope may prove effective in enhancing the well-being of aging populations. These findings underscore the importance of integrating psychosocial and community-based approaches into geriatric care and public health planning.

The mental health issues among undergraduate students have become increasingly recognized as a pressing concern, often impacting their overall well-being over time. Despite escalating scholarly attention to students’ well-being, a significant gap persists in theoretical frameworks and measurement instruments with established benchmarks, remarkably those applicable to the Thai context. This study aims to develop and validate a contextually appropriate well-being instrument for Thai university students, grounded in the PERMA model, which examines five dimensions: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. A multistage sampling approach was utilized to enlist 1,080 participants for an online questionnaire incorporating the PERMA well-being scale. The data were examined through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and network analysis to assess the structural validity and inter-item correlations. Results from the second-order CFA yielded an excellent model fit with a root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.013, with all the constructs significant at p<0.001. In addition, network analysis showed the centrality within constructs. The findings revealed that the PERMA model was indicative of Thai university students’ well-being exhibited robust internal consistency, and significant intra-construct correlations. This contextually relevant instrument yielded valuable insightful information for educators and policymakers in Thailand. This could thus help shape strategies to evaluate and improve student well-being.

The increasing reliance on digital technology in education, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, highlights the urgent need to understand online counseling competencies among secondary school advisory teachers. However, limited empirical evidence exists regarding the structure of these competencies in the Thai educational context. This study aimed to examine the components and validate a model of online counseling competences among secondary school advisory-teachers in Thailand. A total of 400 teachers from the Northeastern region were selected using multistage stratified random sampling. Data were collected through self-reported questionnaires and analyzed using second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The findings indicate that online counseling competences comprises three components: adaptive online counseling proficiency (AOC), school online counseling ethics (SCE), and secure comprehensive technology-integrated online counseling systems (SCS). The model demonstrated strong fit indices (χ2=76.240, df=70, p-value=0.284, χ2/df=1.089; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA)=0.015; standardized root mean square residual (SRMR)=0.029; normed fit index (NFI)=0.990; comparative fit index (CFI)=1.000). This model provides a framework to guide training and policy development aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of online counseling services in Thai secondary schools.

Background: Amid rising concerns about student mental health in the post-COVID-19 era, school systems, especially in low- and middle-income countries, face major challenges in providing timely psychological support. Teachers often serve as frontline providers, yet most lack formal training in digital counseling methods required in online or hybrid learning environments. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an Online Counseling Competencies Training Program (OCCTP) for improving the digital counseling skills of secondary school advisory teachers in Thailand. Methods: A quasi-experimental design with a pre-test/post-test and a comparison group was used. Sixty teachers were recruited and evenly assigned to an intervention or control group. The intervention group received a nine-session online training program covering adaptive counseling techniques, digital ethics, and secure technology platforms. Counseling competencies were assessed using the validated Online Counseling Competencies Scale (OCCS) at three time points: pre-intervention, post-intervention, and three-month follow-up. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA. Results: The intervention group demonstrated statistically significant improvements in digital counseling competencies between pre- and post-test (P < 0.001), with sustained effects at follow-up. No significant improvements were observed in the control group. Improvements included enhanced skills in online empathy, ethical practice, and technology use. Conclusion: The OCCTP effectively enhances teacher competencies for digital mental health support and may be integrated into professional development frameworks to strengthen school-based mental health services. Its scalability offers potential for broader implementation in low-resource educational settings.